Commentaires en ligne Fan Sting 2008-10-09 1 internautes sur 5 ont trouve ce commentaire utile : L'auteur critique un concours - l'agrégation d'anglais en l'occurence - qu'elle n'a pas réussi. Rappelons qu'elle n'a pas non plus été admissible... elle n'a donc pas vécu les "oraux" en anglais qui représentent l'essentiel des épreuves. N'aurait-elle pas été plus crédible si elle avait "démonté" un concours auquel elle aurait été reçue ? Ce roman, certes drôle, ne porte-t-il pas en lui l'amertume de son auteur ? Faut-il rappeler que l'agreg est un concours de haut niveau et qu'être anglophone n'est pas en soi une garantie de réussite ? Au fond, l'auteur pensait que le concours lui était dû quoiqu'il arrive, et que les connsaissances universitaires ne sont d'aucune importance pour enseigner. Et c'est bien ça qui est inquiétant, plus que l'existence du concours d'agrégation qui, quoiqu'en en dise, atteste un niveau certain de savoir comme de savoir-faire.Risso83 2007-07-15 6 internautes sur 7 ont trouve ce commentaire utile : Étant tout juste diplômé du bac le nom de "Sorbonne" m'a fait tilt. Je me suis surtout senti très concerné car les méthodes d'enseignements de mes professeurs sont très semblables, surtout en ce qui concerne l'abscence d'anglais en cours d'anglais! Ce docu-fiction est très intéressant car il montre clairement et surtout avec beaucoup d'humour, mais aussi de désarroi, les inepties des méthodes pédagogiques des professeurs qui ont fait des étudiants français les plus mauvais anglophones d'Europe. Mais également le fait que tout est calculé de façon à ce que cette manière de faire soit malgré tout l'unique valable, même si elle se trouve être à l'opposé de ce qui se passe sur le terrain. C'est donc un livre très intéressant et drôle aussi qui nous en apprend un peu plus sur une des lacunes de l'enseignement français. A lire urgemment!Bobby Watson 2007-05-25 8 internautes sur 9 ont trouve ce commentaire utile : This novel, oddly translated from English but for which no published English original exists, ought to have been written as a first-person expose but has instead been written with a lighter novelistic touch-- perhaps with the idea of attracting more flies with honey than with vinegar. These structural matters aside, the book is highly readable and an insightful commentary on France's recruitment process when it comes to selecting and hiring public school teachers (for lifetime contracts) through its competitive exam system known as "concours"-- literally "to run with" or better "to run against" since the author exposes with economy and mordant humor how the French system is a relentless and remorseless competition where everyone is on his/her own, and alliances (one can hardly speak of friendships) are made for punctual strategic purposes only. The most devastating revelations include the protagonist Alice Wunderland's discovery that some French English professors use the concours process as a pulpit from which to vent their knee-jerk antiAmericanism, that the concours reward top performers on a set of academic exercises that have nothing to do with testing one's ability or suitability as a classroom teacher, and that France's mediocrity when it comes to language teaching/learning has given rise to an agressively opportunistic array of private, for-profit tutoring companies whose fees are partly tax-ductible. But this is not a bad dream or fairytale, it's France 2007, and it was France in 1997, and maybe France in 2017!... On verra.Aurele 2007-04-11 10 internautes sur 10 ont trouve ce commentaire utile : J'ai découvert ce livre dans une chronique de Michel Polac à la télé. Il raconte une tranche de vie d'une Américaine au chômage qui se met en tête de passer l'agrégation d'anglais. A travers une expérience vécue tout est évoqué : le non-sens du système de sélection et de la sectorisation des profs (le système de points remonte au 19ème siècle), la déconnexion complète avec les réalités du terrain, et surtout des procédures dignes de Kafka (entre autres les professeurs radiés de l'Education Nationale sans savoir pourquoi). Malgré ces dures réalités, le livre est plein d'humour...A offrir à ceux qui passent ce genre de concours...M. NADINE 2007-03-08 11 internautes sur 11 ont trouve ce commentaire utile : First impressions:Do please forgive my « Franglais » in the following text ... I read the book very quickly which must mean I felt at ease with the author's style as French is not my first choice of reading matter, I find English easier. And secondly, I must therefore have really got into it because I haven't been able to concentrate on books recently. The book in presented in three parts, which may be a « clin d'oeil » to the infamous « dissertation » that causes our character Alice so much concern. She gives a lot of thought to the exercise at one point comparing it to the Holy Trinity. So, Alice has lived in France for quite a while now and was born in the USA. After losing her job, and having acquired French nationality, she decides to try for the « Agrégation Externe » and chooses to go to The Sorbonne for lectures. The book follows her through her first lessons at the Sorbonne, her description of the teachers, the candidates, the exam itself, the subjects studied, her family and friends' reactions, her disenchantment and questioning of the manner teachers are recruited. The book is very funny at times but smattered with delicate, even sad and tragic moments. A lot of work has gone into research, which the author uses to illustrate several points and it is impossible for her to remain objective although I must say she tries sometimes to do so. Having perhaps tried at all costs to avoid stereotypes, she fails however, admitting I believe however unconsciously or not, that she herself becomes a stereotype. Therefore there is the separation between « les forts » and « moins forts » on the university benches (left and right), the portrait of the « Anglophones », the brilliant students from l'Ecole Normale, the teachers, the Jury, and the Education system, which becomes personified as her « bête noire ». What does she criticise and what problems does she raise? - She speaks American-English and learns that British-English is far more acceptable even going so far as to admit having to learn a new language: Sorbonne/Concours language - Bureaucracy concerning the concours is a nightmare - She disagrees with the fact that there is more French involved even though the concours is to gain the right to teach English. She points out that some candidates' English is dodgy and despite this, they obtain the concours (at the end of the book, one young girl is terrified at the thought of teaching English in Lycées or collèges, admitting to have sat the concours to be able to teach at university) - She admits to not working enough on linguistics, which costs her the Agrégation in the end - She cannot understand the way the literary works are chosen to be studied mainly from a rhetorical point of view and not taking the historical context enough into account. - She learns that she may get an eliminatory mark in Version. And sometimes disagrees with the translations given (the translation of « pieds de cochon »for one...). - She finds the work on « Sophie's Choice » disturbing as she feels the Shoah takes a second seat... - She dislikes the way American history is approached, finding non stop comparisons to the worst aspects of American history as in slavery or racism... even at her own daughter's school (see the passage on Chicago). - She finds terrible organisation problems in the Education System. She cannot understand why and how first time teachers obtain their « affectation » (« Rebecca » has to choose between being sent God knows where in her area, or accepting a post abroad which she doesn't get either due to an administrative error). She cannot understand why so many teachers are not replaced on sick leave, or leave, when there are hundreds of teachers desperate for a job. - When she writes and asks for her papers, she discovers a paper that is not hers! She writes to the President du Jury several times and receives polite replies that state in fact that everything is all right and the Jury remains sovereign. - Her battle with the infamous dissertation is very well put! - There is a disturbing encounter at the end with a candidate in his late fifties. Having passed a concours he is then refused at the IUFM and his diploma is not validated. She meets up with him suspicious at first, only to meet someone who speaks Oxford English, is charming and depressed. His « mémoire » may have been taken as a criticism of the Education of English in France. He is distraught and jobless. She is very impressed with some teachers. As I said before, I liked her humour and self-derision. Not having sat the Agrégation externe myself, I cannot say if it is always like this or specific to the Sorbonne? But I did go to the Sorbonne and recognised many descriptions of the students there... but I suppose it's the same everywhere as I've been at Sorbonne Nouvelle and Nanterre too. It takes all sorts to make a world. I recognised a lot of points made and disagreed with others... I've always thought it normal to master French for example, whatever foreign language you intend to teach. You have to know how a French child's mind works: know the one to teach the other. The book is very touching at times: the passage about the Shoah makes her aware that real life is NOT the concours, nor perhaps should be... When she goes to visit the Shoah memorial after a lesson on « Sophie's choice » leaves a bitter taste in her mouth, she is never melodramatic... It's very moving... I enjoyed the book. I'm sure it will raise a few eyebrows. I can't quite understand her decision to write it through a character « Alice » as it's obviously based on personal experience. Perhaps it allowed her to give an extra edge to the book. And I would have loved to read it in English too! Anyway, it's worth a good read and made me realise that: - You must feel very proud to have passed the Agrégation as it's very physically and mentally draining. |
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